


In Sickness or in Health

by SunlightOnTheWater



Series: Sons of God and Daughters of Man [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Nephilim, Sick Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 03:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1250476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunlightOnTheWater/pseuds/SunlightOnTheWater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean is sick, John is too busy with a case to notice, Sam is worried, and Michael is not good at this human stuff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Sickness or in Health

Two days after Dean turned eleven he got the flu. It was January and so the flu wasn't that uncommon. Actually it was one of the things that a good parent should have been looking out for but Michael, despite how little he knew about humans, had already figured out that John Winchester was not a good parent. The first day after he came home from his new school in South Bend, Indiana Dean was pale faced and sweaty. Sam was clutching his older brother's hand and casting worried glances at Dean's milky complexion. John didn't even glance up as the boys as they entered the rented house, his expression twisted up in concentration as he read over whatever information had drawn him here. The icy wind rattled the shutters and the archangel frowned as both his boys shivered in response to the sound. The wind cut through the flimsy house like a knife because John, besides not paying much attention to what he thinks of his children, was a cheap bastard. Michael did what he could to help keep the boys warm but with their father around he couldn't do much without being noticed.

"I'm going out tonight," John said, pulling a notebook full of scribbles toward him. "I think I've found what I'm looking for. Dean, watch out for your brother. I'll be back in the morning."

"Yes sir," Dean agreed, voice strained. John didn't notice, or just didn't care, as he pulled on his boots, tied them, and then grabbed his coat and car keys. John walked out the door without saying another word to his sons. "Do you have homework Sammy?"

"No," Sam said, shaking his head for emphasis.

"Ok," Dean said tiredly. "Why don't you go watch cartoons?" Sam nodded, smiling brightly, and scampered off toward the ancient television set. Dean waited til his little brother was absorbed in the cartoon before he sank to the floor, wrapping an arm around his stomach. He looked miserable. Michael paced a couple steps back and forth, unsure what to do. Finally he made himself visible and approached his oldest son. Dean looked up, was concerned for a moment, and then obviously decided he was too miserable to do anything about the archangel's sudden appearance.

Michael pressed a gentle hand to Dean's forehead, mimicking what he remembered of Mary's behavior one of the times Dean had been ill when she was still among the living, and winced at the heat pouring off the boy. Nephilim weren't normally prone to illness but they also tended to come into their powers by this point. Some days, when the archangel had too much time to himself to think while the boys were at school, Michael found himself searching out the dormant grace in their souls, slowly become their own, just to reassure himself that they really were his children. Now, with Dean shivering from fever, he couldn't help but wish that the grace lurking inside his oldest son would wake up and do something.

Dean leaned into Michael's touch for a moment and then stumbled to his feet, bolting for the bathroom. Sam was drawn away from the cartoons by the sound of his brother retching. Wide, innocent eyes turned toward Michael. "Help?" Sam questioned and he nodded hesitantly. That earned him a tentative smile before Sam scampered off to attempt to help Dean. Michael stood there a moment longer before leaving the room to head for the nearest pharmacy.

Thirty minutes later the archangel was certain CVS was the most demonic invention known to man. He was staring at the labels of children's medicine feeling increasingly frustrated when a young woman approached him. She was maybe twenty-one and heavily pregnant, carrying a little girl in one arm and a plastic basket in the other. "Got a little swamped by the medicines?" she asked with a kind smile. Michael nodded and her soul brightened with gentle amusement. "I felt the same when April here got sick for the first time. What are you looking for?" Two minutes later the young woman had found what Michael needed and he was on his way back to his sons.

Dean was in bed by that time, Sam fussing worriedly over him. Dean was trying to get his younger brother out of the room. It took the combined effort of Dean and Michael, along with the reassurance that the medicine would work, to get Sam back out into the living room to watch cartoons. The Michael measured out the correct dosage and slipped his oldest into sleep with a tap of his fingers before joining Sam on the couch. While the older boy was still wary around the archangel, Sam had no qualms about curling up next to him and eventually falling asleep that way.

John called at seven in the morning to inform his sons that he wouldn't be back for another day. Michael then called the school and informed them that Dean Winchester had the flu and would not be attending school that day. He walked Sam to school and left him with the promises that he would stay with his older brother and return for Sam at exactly 3:10 in the afternoon to pick the boy up. Dean slept for most the day, only waking to eat a little chicken soup the archangel managed to heat up from a can around two. He was asleep again when Michael brought Sam home from school and he managed to convince his youngest son to let the older boy rest. John called at nine to inform a drowsy Dean that he'd be back by noon the next day. Dean replied with a slurred, "Yes sir," and drifted off the sleep, his fever finally broken.

The next morning Dean insisted that he was going to school so Michael healed him the rest of the way. Dean walked Sam to school, the younger boy seeming determined to fill in the older one on everything he'd missed while he'd been sick. John was back by the time they returned to school and he ordered them to pack up because they were leaving. He completely missed the strained and disappointed looks on both the boys faces as they agreed and headed for their room.


End file.
